In Bailey's memory
A lot has been happening since I last wrote an entry. On March 4th Bella gave birth to seven puppies. Though the puppies were delivered by c-section at the clinic, we lost all seven : ( One pup,Ivy, hung on for nearly two days. The first pup, much larger than the rest, was dead and most likely had been so for a few days which made the environment for the other six toxic. The plan was to have Bella spayed which had been started before the c-section. Meg and I saw and held Ivy, and I think Bella would have been a good mom, as she was very attentive to Ivy the eve. that we visited them both at the clinic.
When we brought Bella home after Ivy died it was very sad to see how she coped. She adopted a pink stuffed cell phone and a purple stuffed dog named Betty as her pups. They went with her everywhere, and she guarded them fiercely from Cooper and Amelia for the next three weeks.
I couldn't believe the bad luck that I had been having with my dogs! The whole idea of allowing Bella one litter of pups, which included getting another male dog, Cooper, was to give me the piece of mind, should Bella get lymphoma, that I would not have to go through what I did with Bailey in tracking down her relatives in order to find her a donor match. Since Bella had been spade that plan was over. Dr. Sullivan did freeze stem cells from the dead puppies which would allow either Cooper or Bella to have a haploid transplant, a new procedure allowing transplants from blood relatives a match or not.
As Meg was counting on a Bella pup I contacted Bella's breeder who just happened to have a litter of puppies from Bella's mother and a relative of Bella's father. I was considering getting a female puppy and breed her with Cooper once. However, though I did get a beautiful lemon beagle pup, Juniper (Junie) I decided against more puppies. There are just too many dogs already in shelters who are being put down because they have not been adopted.
Junie and Bella have the same DNA since they are half sisters, and Meg took a sister of Junie's she named Roxie who though had a hernia, recently had surgery and is a little "spitfire" : ) Should Cooper get sick we can used the frozen stem cells from the dead puppies, and Bella, Junie, and Roxy can help each other out should one of them get sick. As you can see I do not ever want to have to track down dogs again!
My next order of business, besides finishing my book about Bailey is to get a nonprofit organization started for the purpose of accepting funding for a linear accelerator for veterinarians in W. Washington and elsewhere. Due to politics I am not sure if Dr. Sullivan will be able to use the linear accelerator at Washington State University after July ( Google the story in the Seattle PI about transplants for pets, May 12th, and I sent a letter to the editor May 14th, which can be found online as well). Before pets can be transplanted they need irradiation. Dr. Sullivan has everything he needs at his clinic to perform transplants except a linear accelerator for the irradiation.
I made a collage titled "Dr. Sullivan's Waiting Room" that I intend to make prints of and sell--the money from the prints and my book will go towards purchasing a linear accelerator.
My after school "Art from the Heart" kids have made pet quilt wall hangings which are being sent to Washington State U. and the Fred Hutch Cancer Center. Though the quilt they sent to Oprah was signed for we haven't heard anything back form her, and may very well not. We have made more quilts, but I have not decided who they will go to yet.
To anyone who reads this and has a pet who has either died from lymphoma or who is currently fighting their battle with this terrible disease, my heart goes out to you! I do know what it is like, and I just want to see the pets we love dearly have a chance to beat their cancer! I am so grateful to Dr. Sullivan and His wife, Dr. Westfall for giving back to pets what they gave to humans-- many dogs gave their lives to find a way to cure lymphoma!
Sincerely,
Cathy von Haartman cathyvster@gmail.com
When we brought Bella home after Ivy died it was very sad to see how she coped. She adopted a pink stuffed cell phone and a purple stuffed dog named Betty as her pups. They went with her everywhere, and she guarded them fiercely from Cooper and Amelia for the next three weeks.
I couldn't believe the bad luck that I had been having with my dogs! The whole idea of allowing Bella one litter of pups, which included getting another male dog, Cooper, was to give me the piece of mind, should Bella get lymphoma, that I would not have to go through what I did with Bailey in tracking down her relatives in order to find her a donor match. Since Bella had been spade that plan was over. Dr. Sullivan did freeze stem cells from the dead puppies which would allow either Cooper or Bella to have a haploid transplant, a new procedure allowing transplants from blood relatives a match or not.
As Meg was counting on a Bella pup I contacted Bella's breeder who just happened to have a litter of puppies from Bella's mother and a relative of Bella's father. I was considering getting a female puppy and breed her with Cooper once. However, though I did get a beautiful lemon beagle pup, Juniper (Junie) I decided against more puppies. There are just too many dogs already in shelters who are being put down because they have not been adopted.
Junie and Bella have the same DNA since they are half sisters, and Meg took a sister of Junie's she named Roxie who though had a hernia, recently had surgery and is a little "spitfire" : ) Should Cooper get sick we can used the frozen stem cells from the dead puppies, and Bella, Junie, and Roxy can help each other out should one of them get sick. As you can see I do not ever want to have to track down dogs again!
My next order of business, besides finishing my book about Bailey is to get a nonprofit organization started for the purpose of accepting funding for a linear accelerator for veterinarians in W. Washington and elsewhere. Due to politics I am not sure if Dr. Sullivan will be able to use the linear accelerator at Washington State University after July ( Google the story in the Seattle PI about transplants for pets, May 12th, and I sent a letter to the editor May 14th, which can be found online as well). Before pets can be transplanted they need irradiation. Dr. Sullivan has everything he needs at his clinic to perform transplants except a linear accelerator for the irradiation.
I made a collage titled "Dr. Sullivan's Waiting Room" that I intend to make prints of and sell--the money from the prints and my book will go towards purchasing a linear accelerator.
My after school "Art from the Heart" kids have made pet quilt wall hangings which are being sent to Washington State U. and the Fred Hutch Cancer Center. Though the quilt they sent to Oprah was signed for we haven't heard anything back form her, and may very well not. We have made more quilts, but I have not decided who they will go to yet.
To anyone who reads this and has a pet who has either died from lymphoma or who is currently fighting their battle with this terrible disease, my heart goes out to you! I do know what it is like, and I just want to see the pets we love dearly have a chance to beat their cancer! I am so grateful to Dr. Sullivan and His wife, Dr. Westfall for giving back to pets what they gave to humans-- many dogs gave their lives to find a way to cure lymphoma!
Sincerely,
Cathy von Haartman cathyvster@gmail.com
posted by Cathy at 12:41 PM
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